After a long 51-day run across 17 cities, the 8th Theatre Olympics drew to a close at a colourful function in Mumbai on Sunday, April 8. The event that started on 17 February witnessed 450 shows from more than 30 countries.

Addressing the gathering, Union Culture Minister Dr Mahesh Sharma said the Theatre Olympics aimed to showcase the rich heritage and culture across the length and breadth of the country. He expressed satisfaction at the success of the event, adding that the goal was to take the glory of Indian culture to all corners of the world.

The 8th Theatre Olympics had been inaugurated by Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu on 17 February 2018 at the Red Fort in New Delhi. Nearly 25,000 artistes were part of the mega event held under the theme “Flag of Friendship”. The event witnessed 450 shows performed in the 17 cities of Agartala, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Imphal, Jaipur, Jammu, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Patna, Thiruvananthapuram, and Varanasi.

The international festival, which involved theatre shows from over 30 countries this year, was organised in India for the first time. The National School of Drama organised the 8th Theatre Olympics under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was the chief guest at the closing ceremony, which was also attended by eminent actor Nana Patekar.

Nearly 400 artistes from various parts of the country put up a colourful show at the closing ceremony.

Sharma appreciated Mumbaikars for the enthusiasm they showed in attending the cultural shows held as part of the theatre festival, all of which were houseful, said a press release issued by the Press Information Bureau.

Fadnavis said theatre brought together all sectors of society. He said while the film industry was moving ahead with the help of technology, bringing in various new visual effects, “theatre is a medium which gives us all such effects even without employing technology”. He expressed happiness that Mumbai was chosen as the host city for the closing ceremony.

Others present on the occasion included Artistic Director, 8th Theatre Olympics, Ratan Thiyam and Acting Chairman, National School of Drama Society, Dr Arjun Deo Charan, who presided over the ceremony.

Chairman of the International Committee of Theatre Olympics Theodoros Terzopoulos and popular theatre and film personality Nawazuddin Siddiqui were special guests, while Director, National School of Drama, Prof Waman Kendre was present too.

‘Rang Shikhar’, a collage of tribal, folk and theatre performances, followed the closing ceremony. Actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Manoj Joshi, Himani Shivpuri, Sachin Khedekar, along with well-known ventriloquist and puppeteer Ramdas Padhye, famous Bharatnatyam dancer Sandhya Purecha and Lavani dancer Vaishali Jadhav performed at the presentation.

The 51-day long 8th Theatre Olympics staged more than 400 plays and hosted 78 allied events including 34 Living Legend series, 29 master classes, seven interfaces, six national and international seminars and two workshops across the 17 cities. Besides, there were about 600 ambience performances and 250 youth forum shows.

Established in 1993 in Delphi, Greece, the Theatre Olympics is the foremost international theatre festival, presenting the finest productions of well-known theatre practitioners from around the world. The festival goes with the tagline ‘Crossing Millennia’, and aims to “connect the cultural past with the present and future, bringing the richness and diversity of theatre heritage to the experiments and research of contemporary theatre”.

The 1st Theatre Olympics was held in Greece in 1995, followed by Shizuoka in Japan in 1999. Russia hosted the third edition in 2001, while Turkey held the next one in Istanbul in 2006. Four years later, South Korea held the fifth edition in 2010 in Seoul, and China hosted the festival in Beijing in 2014. In 2016, the 7th Theatre Olympics was held in Wroclaw, Poland, before India played host to the 8th edition this year.